If you build it they will come

Wainuiomata Training Centre hopes to raise $2 million from the Government and private sources to turn the suburb into a hotbed for open-source software development by late next year.

The centre - which currently runs courses in welding - plans to spend the money modernising its building, expanding its curriculum and developing an ICT cluster built around open-source technologies such as the Linux operating system.

Development manager Ariki Gell says the centre aims to attract five to 10 existing Wellington firms that will develop open-source applications for desktops, mobile phones and handheld PCs and is in discussions with potential candidates.

The training centre will provide free rent in return for a stake in each company.